Data from: Effects of summer weather and heatwaves on wild boar activity

Climate change threatens wildlife species, negatively affecting their
fitness through environmental change, i.e., through increased severity of
droughts and summer heatwaves. Wild boar, a species with limited
physiological thermoregulation abilities, is potentially vulnerable to
high temperatures during summer. Yet, little is known about the
behavioural reactions of this species to heat stress. A detailed
understanding of wild boar behavioural adaptations to their environment
might help understand their future population growth and change in the
geographical range. We used multisensory collars on 24 individual wild
boar in the Czech Republic, calculating the dynamic body acceleration as a
proxy for energy expenditure to detect activity changes in response to
high temperatures on two temporal scales (daily and seasonal) and
heatwaves. Our results revealed that overall, under higher temperatures,
wild boar reduce their activity, unless it rained. Heatwave intensity did
not affect wild boar activity. We suggest that wild boars adapt their
activity to weather conditions and presume the importance of sufficient
precipitation for thermoregulation in this species. Additionally, this
research shows the potential of remote-sensing technologies to monitor
wildlife behaviour, particularly in challenging observational scenarios,
offering valuable insights into the behavioural responses of wildlife in
the face of a changing climate.